Disappointed with Kershaw

I agree with Scurvy (once in a long while, lol) on the ZT 0770CF or any variant. I have one or 5 and the blade shape is as perfect as you can get, the thing flips open effortlessly and has a nice thin grind behind the edge. It's also a "little big knife", cuts like a larger knife in a smaller and reasonably sized handle.
 
Scurvy092 said:
If you like that design and want S35vn, why not just get a ZT0770cf? I don't get it. If you want S90v, the ZT0095 just had a run of S90v. The Link is available with S35VN.
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Well lets see. The ZT0770cf is around the $150 + mark for starters as are most if not all ZT's. Twice the price range that I'm speaking of. The s35 Link is a nice knife for the price. I just wish they made more USA made options in the $75 price range instead of the China made $35 dollar options. Seems for every new $75 range USA made models there are 2 new China models offered. But that's me talking, your mileage may vary.
 
How many more options do you need though? They already have a bunch of them and they are all highly successful which is why there isn't a huge turnover every year. They are at capacity.
 
Scurvy092 said:
How many more options do you need though? They already have a bunch of them and they are all highly successful which is why there isn't a huge turnover every year. They are at capacity.
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This statement seems a bit off given how ZT likes to do several variants of all their popular models. How many options does someone need? As many as it takes for them to offer something that person wants to buy. I know for me, the reason I passed on every 0777 variant was the originals were too expensive for me to want to carry. So I sold my 0777m390. Then every variation based on the design seemed to remove all the aspects that made it an appealing knife. Premium materials and the KVT pivot. Sure we all know kai like to say speedsafe sells more than any other thing they offer. This may be true. But the reason for that goes deeper than just one system being more popular than the other. So yeah I guess if someone just wanted a knife that looked like a 0777 the natrix and 0770 are fine. But if you just want say a frame lock or liner lock 0777? Sorry they simply haven't done it. They could if they wanted to. But for some reason they have not done it. But seriously arguing against options? How many variants of the 0392 do we need? And you cant simply say well buy a 0095 if you want premium steel. That's like saying buy a ferrari if you want a corvette. One simply doesn't fill the void of the other because they both have composites and high horsepower.
 
"Made in USA" entirely from parts not Made in the USA,

Taken from a dealers description of the Launch series. Anyone have any insight to that claim?
 
PirateSeulb said:
My biggest Kershaw gripe is the proliferation of Assisted Openers I just prefer an automatic or a manual don't give me that ugly hybrid.
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Auto's aren't legal in as many places as assisted knives are, and you can always de assist your knife. so it makes sense to make a lot of assisted knives.
 
I thought it was a good thing that Kershaw keeps making good knives at more affordable prices. Cheaper production costs from cheaper materials and cheaper labour results in cheaper knives. Just go to ZT since they make higher-end, USA-made versions of some Kershaw knives anyway (Cryo to the ZT056*).

I find it fortunate that KAI set it up kind of like a Toyota-Lexus thing. That way, you can just quickly just check out one brand or the other for some of their similar designs based on the kinds of prices/materials you're looking for.

A criticism I have from their setup, though, is that they don't make more models that have a closely related affordable or higher-end version in the other brand often enough. Sure it gives each of them them models to distinguish themselves as a brand, but it kind of defeats the purpose of having separate low-end/high-end brands if you can't easily downgrade/upgrade to the other one without having to settle for what they got in one brand or a different design altogether in the other instead of just looking elsewhere.
 
Nautique said:
"Made in USA" entirely from parts not Made in the USA,

Taken from a dealers description of the Launch series. Anyone have any insight to that claim?
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Not sure what that's about, sounds incorrect if anything.
 
I don't have a problem with MIC, as long as you don't continue to charge MIA prices for it. At least pass on some of the savings to the consumer. That said, Kershaw has always maintained very low pricing, even for their MIA stuff. I'm actually surprised I haven't bought more if them just because of this. I echo the sentiments that KAI uses ZT as their quality line, but there's definitely some material sharing and design genius coming out of both shops IMO.
 
I had a CQC-4K from Kershaw
I was looking to test some kershaw as well as the wave opener
The price was good so I pushed the button on it

For the price I have been surprised by the overall quality and functionality of the knife

Convinced by the kershaw that I like the wave opener I decided to sell the kershaw and to buy an Emerson

This was not a good move ...:(
I have been quite disappointed by the Emerson at $200+ compared to the kershaw <$50

So I sold the Emerson to get a ZT0630 and this was a good move :)

My experience is that if you look for a cheap functional knife with good design you can go for Kershaw
You will get the material you pay for but there is nothing wrong with them at their price point
 
I want my $30 knife to have the same steel as my $150 knife and I want it made in china by unskilled child laborers to keep costs even lower and shipped in massive shipping containers to keep shipping costs as low as possible. If not, then I am disspoint. Why can't every company be like sanrenmu and ganzo??


Totally joking... just in case the sarcasm wasn't apparent.
 
vwb563 said:
Makes me even more excited about getting the one I just bought. Oh well, Christmas is coming up and I'm gonna need gifts to give away. :)
But in all seriousness this is exactly what I'm talking about. They (KAI) could have built this knife here in the USA with decently premium materials like an s30v blade and charged in the $70-$80 range which is twice the selling price of the China made knife and I think they would have sold the heck out of them. I Love the look of the 0777 but I'm not paying the $500 price tag for one. This would have been a chance for them to sell all us admirers a decent made clone but sounds like they have screwed it up.
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I would have liked to see it USA made with better materials but i'm thinking they didn't because if they did and it had a price tag of $80-$100 it would cut into their ZT0770 sales.
Untitled by Danny Nystrom, on Flickr
 
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Would have been fine if they just made it better overall. No need for better materials. But at this price point it's absolutely junk. There are literally lots of knives around $40 that are far better quality and designed with sub par materials.
 
basmca said:
Auto's aren't legal in as many places as assisted knives are, and you can always de assist your knife. so it makes sense to make a lot of assisted knives.
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Converting an AO to a manual is not as easy as it sounds unless you don't mind having a manual with terrible action. If they made it much easier to convert an AO to a manual I wouldn't really care about the AO aspect anymore I would still look for non AO first I don't want to buy something I know I have to modify.
 
PirateSeulb said:
Converting an AO to a manual is not as easy as it sounds unless you don't mind having a manual with terrible action. If they made it much easier to convert an AO to a manual I wouldn't really care about the AO aspect anymore I would still look for non AO first I don't want to buy something I know I have to modify.
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To each their own i guess but I enjoy an assisted opening knife. I enjoy the help the spring provides and just love how my Leeks snap open like an auto in the blink of an eye. I have never de-assisted an assisted opening knife and probably never will. They are designed that way and all mine will stay that way.
 
vwb563 said:
To each their own i guess but I enjoy an assisted opening knife. I enjoy the help the spring provides and just love how my Leeks snap open like an auto in the blink of an eye. I have never de-assisted an assisted opening knife and probably never will. They are designed that way and all mine will stay that way.
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I have 1 AO and the AO is the 2nd thing I disliked about it the 1st was weight just too heavy when clipped in pocket. The torsion bar on my AO snapped, I heard it and confirmed on disassembly, so until I got the replacement in the mail I had removed the broken bits and used it as a manual for ~1 week and just found the action to be poor. I am sure with some work the action could be cleaned up but since AO was #2 and weight wasn't going to be fixed no point in modifying it. Yes I know people have their preferences but my gripe is that Kershaw doesn't offer the manual choice on but a small handful of their products. I don't want them to stop making AO just make more manual knives.
 
PirateSeulb said:
Yes I know people have their preferences but my gripe is that Kershaw doesn't offer the manual choice on but a small handful of their products. I don't want them to stop making AO just make more manual knives.
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I can understand that. I like manual opening knives also. Kershaw / ZT does tend to favor adding assisted opening to a lot of their designs.
 
I have been collecting for about two years. My knowledge is equivalent to an avid collect knowledge of 5 years. I am retired and I devote an hour to two almost everyday and I just can't get enough of it. The reason I am writing this is to tell how it started. My first knife many years ago was a Spyderco Centofante 3. I went to the knife store and the guy told me it was a good knife so I bought it and carried it for 10 years, great knife. Then about two years ago I started collecting on a whim. I started with Kershaw, it made collecting easy. First the cheap Chinese ones the slowly i started moving up to the American ones, what a difference. Then I started learning about the different steels and knife and knife materials such as FRN, Titanium, G-10 etc. I sold all the cheap knives but kept the rare one such as my green Lahar and my Speedform II. I also had a Tilt until last week and traded it for some more carry-able knives.I hated Spyderco and Benchmade so i bought some ZT's Boker's and higher end Chinese companies like Kizer. Now my collection is 80% Spyderco. Once you get your fist it's all over. The point to this story is that Kershaw made it easy to start collecting without breaking the bank and then if you like it you can move up the ladder To the more expensive knives. Most of my knowledge has been from hours and hours of YouTube videos. I can thank Kershaw for getting me into a hobby that I enjoy more than many other hobbies that I have done in the past. The way woman pick out jewelry for the day I go through my knives and pick out my 2 knives for the day depending how I feel that day. I hope this long comment is of interest to somebody.
 
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